Benjamin Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu (21 October 1949-) was Prime Minister of Israel from 18 June 1996 to 6 July 1999 (succeeding Shimon Peres and preceding Ehud Barak) and from 31 March 2009 (succeeding Ehud Olmert). He was a member of Likud.

Biography
Benjamin Netanyahu was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and he grew up in Pittsburgh, United States and Israel. He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he obtained a degree in architecture and business administration. After working as a management consultant, he became an officer in an elite anti-terror unit of the Israel Defense Force from 1967 to 1972. He published a number of books on Israel's fight against terrorism, and in 1976 was appointed director of the Jonathan Institute against terrorism. In 1982, he became deputy head of Israel's mission in the USA. As Israel's ambassador to the United Nations from 1984 to 1988, his telegenic personality gave him an excellent working relationship with the US media, an important source of suport for him among Jewish groups in the USA. He returned to Israel to become Deputy Foreign Minister from 1988 to 1991 and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office from 1991 to 1992. Still largely unknown, he took over as chairman of Likud in 1993, when its popular support was at a low ebb against the popular Yitzhak Rabin. His fierce opposition to the Oslo Accords gave way to tepid tolerance. In the 1996 general elections, his charm and charisma overcame doubts about his lack of policy commitments, while he was better than his opponent, Shimon Peres, at portraying himself as a guarantor of Israeli security. After his election, he walked a careful tightrope between US pressure to continue negotiations with Yasser Arafat's PLO, and satisfying the right--wingers within his government who insisted on Jewish settlers' rights in the West Bank. After his election, he hoped to stall the peace process and concentrate on economic growth instead. However, his refusal to comply with the Gaza-Jericho Agreement put the progress in Israeli-Palestinian relaations achieved under his predecessors open to serious doubts, with riots erupting in September 1996.

Netanyahu moved from the political arena to the private sector after his electoral defeat in 1999, but he returned to politics as Foreign Minister from 2002 to 2003 and as Finance Minister from 2003 to 2005 in Ariel Sharon's governments. He departed the government over disagreements regarding the disengagement from the Gaza Strip, having significantly improved Israel's economic performance during his short time as head of the Finance Ministry. In December 2005, he returned to the Likud leadership after Sharon formed the new Kadima party, and he became Leader of the Opposition in December 2006. Following the 2009 election, Netanyahu formed a coalition government and became Premier once again. He welcomed a peace initiative with Palestine brokered by the Arab states, and enjoyed widespread popularity. In 2014, after Hamas kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers, he ordered Operation Protective Edge, in which Israeli forces invaded Gaza, weakening Hamas, but failing to destroy it. He also engaged in a proxy conflict with Iran and Syria during the Syrian Civil War, ordering airstrikes in Syria. Conversely, Netanyahu experienced improved relations with the USA under President Donald Trump, who reversed his predecessor Barack Obama's anti-settlement stance and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.